Business Travel Tip – Anywhere but Canada – Thanks to Government Interference

Canada’s economic and environmental strategies are FAILING…. and killing any Canadian competitiveness in the process.

Liberals, listen to me… Your “environmental plan” isn’t working… it’s hurting oil and gas business, which you think it SHOULD because you want us “Off-The-Stuff”… but somehow you’ve also managed to start hurting RENEWABLE ENERGY players in Canada as well!

Which… well… by your logic… and by anyone’s logic.. SHOULDN’T!

Canadian governments have put their thumbs ALL-OVER-THE-SCALES through subsidies, plus carbon taxes and regulatory hoops on competing fossil-fuel energy — all the while having RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANIES bail on Canada TOO, because they like lower U.S. taxes even more.

US Companies selling Canadian stakes for American gains

Florida based NextEra Energy Partners LP said Monday the sale of its wind and solar generation assets in Ontario to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for US$582.3 million was specifically motivated by U.S. tax reform.

“We expect the sale of the Canadian portfolio to enable us to recycle capital back into U.S. assets, which benefit from a longer federal income tax shield and a lower effective corporate tax rate..” Jim Robo, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a released statement

Favorable U.S. Tax rules too good for companies to pass up!

“We expect to (creatively) redeploy the proceeds from this transaction to acquire higher-yielding U.S. assets from either third parties or NextEra Energy Resources.”

“This opportunity to acquire a sizeable portfolio of operating renewables projects provides immediate scale and exposure to a core sector for CPPIB’s broader North American and global power and renewables strategy,” said Bruce Hogg, managing director, head of Power and Renewables, CPPIB.

Oil Companies threatening the same action, in some cases, action already taken

Oil and gas companies with assets in Canada waited for the Canadian government to respond to U.S. tax reforms in the federal budget but which, as should have been expected, offered nothing in terms of tax competitiveness, so what happens next?

Well, quite simply, the next step is you look to move capital. It was already happening in the Oil sector.. but to see it happen to Renewable energy firms is totally missing the point!

2018 will see capital moved between Canada and the United States, and for U.S. companies or Canadian companies that operate on both sides of the border, the choice is clear for them now.

Encana Corp., Crescent Point Energy Corp. and Enerplus Corp. could also favour U.S. plays versus Canadian plays;

For what it’s worth, Encana chief executive Doug Suttles is relocating from the company’s Calgary headquarters to its Denver, Co. office, likely towards the end of spring, the energy company announced a few weeks ago. (Nothing to do with Relocating the Encana Headquarters, they’ve said in a statement)

Companies like ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. could decide to sell Canadian non-core assets, which is already seeing similar moves by Shell.

Canadian Banks are already aware of the exodus

Courtesy of BNN –

RBC president and CEO Dave McKay told BNN that a “significant” investment exodus to the U.S. is already underway, especially in the energy and clean-technology sectors.

OTTAWA — The head of one of Canada’s largest banks is urging the federal government to stem the flow of investment capital from this country to the United States — because, he warns, it’s already leaving in “real time.”

McKay told The Canadian Press that a “significant” investment exodus to the U.S. is already underway, especially in the energy and clean-technology sectors.

The flight of capital, McKay added, will likely be followed by a loss of talent, which means the next generation of engineers, problem solvers and intellectual property could be created not north of the border, but south of it instead.

“We would certainly encourage the federal government to look at these issues because, in real time, we’re seeing capital flow out of the country,” McKay said.

Ottawa knows best

Since Trudeau and McKenna are convinced that the strategy for an energy transition from fossil fuels to green energy is working and a complete success, the federal government hasn’t seemed too concerned about the decline of Canadian oil and gas. No pain no gain I suppose.

However! You should be very concerned that the Canadian lacking a competitive edge is bad for businesses big and small, oil and wind…

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WEEKLY SPECIAL GUEST

Cold nights, warm homes! It’s cold in British Columbia, and not just by BC standards! Winter storm warnings, snow fall warnings, cold weather advisories all trickled throughout parts of the province the last week and more as some parts of the province hit temperatures in the minus 20s and